Schools closed, scrubbed down in wake of H1N1

H1N1 SPECIAL SECTION
PARK COUNTY - Students in Fairplay got an unplanned fall break on Tuesday after school officials shut down four schools for the remainder of the week due to a high number of absences related to flu-like symptoms.

The Park County School District says Edith Teter Pre-School, Edith Teter Elementary School, Silverheels Middle School and South Park High School were shuttered until Oct. 19 due to the high number of absences.

Charles Soper, the superintendant of Park County Schools, says about 55 out of 120 students were out sick from the high school and 84 out of about 220 students were out from the elementary school.

"One of the big issues was: We didn't have enough staff to cover classrooms," Soper said. "We had 18 staff members, primarily teachers, out yesterday. We had to cancel and combine classes."

Additionally, 40 percent of the teachers either did not show up to work on Monday or showed up but found they couldn't continue to teach.

A posting on the school district's Web site cited "a suspected H1N1 flu outbreak" and a "concern for the public health" as reasons for the closures.

"It's been a combination of things," Soper said. "We do know we have the H1N1 flu up here, but there's also the seasonal flu, bronchitis, strep throat, pneumonia, it's just a combination of - the perfect storm."

Over the weekend, it was homecoming for South Park High School, but the football team was unable to field about 50 percent of its players. They still decided to play, but suffered a bad loss.

Additionally, school officials say a school board meeting planned for Tuesday evening in Guffey was also cancelled, along with a pair of public forums regarding new school facilities. They say those meetings may be rescheduled.

All athletic events were cancelled for the affected schools, but Soper says those events will be rescheduled.

All four schools are right next to each other and some share a cafeteria.

According to Soper, a custodial crew was giving the schools a thorough cleaning, focusing on common areas and things like doorknobs and drinking fountains.

Soper says when everyone comes back next week, he doesn't want the buildings to be the reasons the outbreak could keep going.

"Our custodial crew is cleaning all of the commonly touched surfaces, paying special attention to them - railings, doorknobs, water fountains, tabletops, desktops, so on and so forth," he said.

Officials say the closures affect about 600 students.

Two charter schools in Park County remained open, officials say.

For more information on the closure, visit the Park County School District RE-2 Web site.

In Pueblo, a three-day closure of Cesar Chavez Academy was lifted on Tuesday after at least a third of the students there had reported flu-like symptoms late last week. However, School District 70 has closed Southern Colorado Early College and Swallows Charter Academy because of flu-related problems.